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The influence of Instagram communication

attributes on Generation Y sharing travel photo
behaviour

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Faiz Anuar Rozzana Ihsanuddin

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The Influence of Social Media Communication Attributes of Instagram
on Generation Y Sharing Travel Photo Behavior
R. Ihsanuddin & F. I. Anuar
Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia

ABSTRACT: It has become a norm to share travel photos and experiences through social media as it acts as
proof that one has visited a place. Instagram is one of the most popular and preferred social media and the
platform for Generation Y to express and share experiences. Possessing similar attributes such as consist of
participation, conversation, and persuasion, this study aimed to examine the extent these attributes influence
their intention to share and behavior in sharing travel photos. Findings found that not all attributes influenced
Generation Y’s intention and behavior in sharing travel photos. Interestingly, the study found no mediation
effect of intention to share travel photos toward the relationship between Instagram communication attributes
and Generation Y’s sharing travel photo behavior. This study will help the tourism marketers and managers to
better understand Generation Y’s behavior in order to capture these generations for the growth of tourism in-
dustry in Malaysia.

Key words: Social Media, Communication Attributes, Instagram, Travel Photo Behavior, Generation Y.

1 INTRODUCTION However, researchers argue on how Generation Y

The technology advancement and social media
emergence have changed tourism industry on how
tourists seek information, their traveling behavior
and decision-making (Lenhart, 2015). A study by
LeadSift (2013), examining the influence of social
media in the tourism industry, reported that 74%
travelers use social media while traveling and in the
74%, 48% of travelers use social media to share vid-
eos and photos. The numbers are increasing year by
year as according to Morrison (2014), where 476
million of people uploaded and shared photos
online, 329 million of people posted comments
about daily activities, and 287 million of people
shared a link to an article.
Instagram, launched in 2010, is a media-sharing
network allowing users to snap or upload a photo,
edit and share it online (iContact.com, 2013). As of
September 2015, the number of Instagram users has
increased to 400 million active users (Nusair, Bilgi-
han, Okumus, & Cobanoglu, 2015). In line with the
increase in users, an act of posting travel photos and
experiences in Instagram as an evidence of visiting a
place has become a norm among its users (Hillman,
2007). Sharing travel photos and experiences in-
stantly through social media accounts has become
much easier (Nusair et al., 2013).
Bolton et al. (2013) posited that Generation Y is
technology savvy and a visually sophisticated gener-
ation making them easy to adapt to use technology
for tourism as they are born along with the introduc-
tion of technology. Therefore, with the unique char-
acteristics of Generation Y, travel pattern and behav-
ior when traveling have changed along with the rap-
rapid change and growth of technology.
uses social media; for instance Lenhart and Madden
(2007); Palfrey and Gasser (2008) claimed that Gen-
eration Y contributes, shares, searches and consumes
content while Pempek, Yermolayeva, and Calvert
(2009); Park, Kee, and Valenzuela (2009) and Bol-
ton et al. (2013) posited that Generation Y did not
contribute anything in return and only relying on so-
cial media for entertainment, interaction, infor-
mation, leisure and socializing.
Importantly, Generation Y and social media today
are inseparable: They like to share and post pictures
in Instagram especially while traveling (Barton,
Haywood, Jhunjhunwala, & Bhatia, 2013). A recent
study made by Jang, Han, Shih, and Lee (2015) re-
vealed that 91% travelers choose to share their travel
experiences via photos, and over 50 million travel
photos have been shared on Instagram since it was
launched in 2010. In Malaysia context, Sparks, Per-
kins, and Buckley (2013) discovered that Instagram
is indeed a popular and most preferred social media
among Generation Y after Facebook and Instagram.
In spite of its popularity among Generation Y,
there are questions about Instagram not yet an-
swered. Among them are the extent to which factors
influence Generation Y to share travel photo in In-
stagram and their behavior in sharing it. Do partici-
pation, conversation and persuasion in communica-
tion plays an important role in influencing their
intention and decision in sharing travel photo?
There is still limited understanding to what extent
social media; specifically Instagram communication
attributes influence Generation Y’s sharing travel
photo behavior. Previous studies investigated on the
relationship between social media and technology
towards the behavior of traveling among Generation
Y (Rubegni, Gerardi, & Caporali, 2007; Simms &
Gretzel, 2013; Wang, Park, & Fesenmaier, 2011) but
very limited research has focused on Instagram spe-
cifically communication attributes and sharing travel
photo behavior (Fotis, Buhalis, & Rossides, 2012;
Fromm, 2014; Sorokina, 2015). Therefore, to ad-
dress the gap; this study warrants an empirical inves-
tigation in order to identify the influence of Insta-
gram communication attributes on Generation Y’s
sharing travel photo behavior.
2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
2.1 Social Media
There is still a lack of agreement on what social
media is as it is evolving very fast. Bolton et al.
(2013) defines social media as an online service us-
ers can create, edit and share an array of content for
the view of thousands of people. McCann (2008) de-
scribes it as the “applications, platforms and media
which aim to facilitate interaction, collaboration, and
the sharing of content”. Safko and Brake (2009) de-
fine it as "activities, practices, and behaviors among
communities of people who gather online to share
information, knowledge and opinions using conver-
sational media which are Internet applications that
allow users to share words, photos, videos and files”
(p.290). Krishnamurthy and Dou (2008), Social me-
dia comprises of user- generated services, social
networking site, online review/rating site, virtual
game world, video sharing sites and online commu-
nities. All definitions are more or less similar high-
lighting social media as a form of communication
where users can create, edit and share content with
other online communities.
Possessing similar attributes like any other social
media, Instagram has been the top social media used
by the Generation Y (Fromm, 2014). As evidence,
Ezumah (2013) reported that 90% of pleasure travel-
ers snap photos and almost half of them (45%) post-
ed it on social media seeking thoughts and ideas
from social media while searching a potential desti-
nation to visit. This statement is further supported by
Bergh (2013), where Generation Y is an active con-
tributor to social media content where 54% do post
information mainly about products, brands and com-
panies as compared to other generation which only
contribute only 45% in social media content. These
statistics show the significant role of social media is
towards travelers, especially for Generation Y.
2.2 Communication Attributes of Instagram
Serving as a communication channel between
people, there are few characteristics and attributes in
Instagram: participation, conversation and persua-
sion. Participation refers to ‘the extent to which
senders and receivers are actively engaged in the in-
teraction as opposed to giving monologs, passively
observing and lurking’ (Burgoon et al., 2000). In
line with the proceeding notion, social media allows
people to participate in a conversation with each
other to contribute information and knowledge to
others (Koh & Kim, 2004). It is a medium for people
to communicate to express their ideas, emotions and
opinions (O’Reilly, Berger, Hernandez, Parent, &
Seguin, 2012). Bercovici (2010) suggested it as a
place that people can be entertained, communicate
and participate in a social environment where Gen-
eration Y contributes, shares, searches and consume
content by creating and combining information from
multiple sites thus makes them an active participant
in social media (Bolton et al., 2013).
Research has defined persuasion in many ways
where Perloff (2003), summarize the definitions into
a symbolic process in which communicators try to
convince other people to change their attitude or be-
havior through a message without any coercion.
Manning (2012), adds the definition by stating that
persuasion is naturally linked with reasons where it
is an act of convincing people by using argument
and reasons. For instance, when a tourists search for
information from online review sites about a certain
destination, they are likely to form impressions
whether the review is useful, informative and accu-
rate as stated by Sen and Lerman (2007). In line with
the preceding notion, Pendergast (2010) states that
as for Generation Y, their friends and families’ opin-
ions are highly valued and have a great influence on
their decision-making, behavior and attitude.
As technology continues to expand and integrate
in everyday life of Generation Y, more choices and
options are available for them to choose in such fast
and efficient way thus affecting their behavioral, at-
titudes and decisions. Hence, Generation Y now can
be said to be impatient and intolerant for delays due
to the easy and quick access to information from the
Internet (Raunio, 2014) but at the same time as ac-
cording to Moscardo and Benckendorff (2010) Gen-
eration Y is said to be more tolerant for diversity,
different lifestyles and multiculturalism. This study,
therefore, investigated on the social media commu-
nication attributes, which include participation, con-
versation and persuasion, an their influences in the
behavioral intention to share and Generation Y’s
sharing travel photo behavior.
3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Data Collection
The study aims to identify the relationship be-
tween Instagram communication attributes, the be-
havioral intention to share travel photo and Genera-
tion Y’s sharing travel photo behavior; a correlation
research design using quantitative approach through
cross-sectional study is considered the most suitable
method to be used. A self-administered online ques- H3: There is a significant relationship between intention to share travel
tionnaire survey (Qualtrics) was developed in order photo and Generation Y’s sharing travel photo behavior.
to obtain quantitative information from Generation H4: Intention to share mediates the relationship between Instagram com-
Y Instagram users. In addition, self-administered munication attributes and Generation Y’s sharing travel photo behav-
paper-based questionnaire were distributed to enrich ior.
the data collection process. A total of 412 completed
surveys were collected throughout the data collec- Based on Table 1, Instagram Communication At-
tion period. The questionnaires were coded and tributes explained 37.6% (R2 = .376, F-Change=
keyed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 81.980, p < .001) of the variance in Generation Y’s
(SPSS) version 21. The reliability test result showed sharing travel photo behavior. Beta coefficient value
that the instrument and items used were reliable as (β = .381, p < .001) for persuasion dimension indi-
the Cronbach’s Alpha for all instruments are higher cates that it had the most influence on Generation
than .70. Y’s sharing travel photo behavior followed by the
participation dimension (β = .274, p < .001). How-
ever, conversation dimension was not significant
4 RESULT AND ANALYSIS with the lowest beta coefficient value of (β = -.005).
This indicates that conversation is not one of the fac-
tors that influence the behavior of Generation Y in
4.1 Descriptive Statistic posting travel photo. Thus, H1a and H1c were sup-
The majority of the respondents were female which ported while H1b was not supported. Since that, H1
accounted to 66% (N=271) whereas the remaining was partially supported. Meanwhile, Table 2 shows
34% (N=141) are male respondents. As previously that Instagram Communication Attributes explained
stated, this research follows Brosdahl and Carpenter 63 percent (R2= .630, F-Change= 231.440, p < .001)
(2012) categorization of Generation Y which age of the variance in intention to share travel photo.
range are from 16 years old to 30 years old. There-
fore, the age data was divided into three categories, Table 1. Hypothesis Testing 1
which are 16 – 20 years old, 21 – 25 years old and Predictor Model/Std β
26 – 30 years old. Almost half (49%) of the re- Instagram Communication Attributes
spondents are from the age range of 21 – 25 years - Participation .274***
old (N=203) followed by 26 – 30 years old that - Conversation -.005
holds 28% (N=114) and the balance of 23% of the - Persuasion .381***
respondents (N=95) are from the age range of 16 – R² .376
20 years old. Adjusted R² .372
R² Change .376
F- Change 81.980***
4.2 Hypothesis Testing
Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
From the research framework, four main hypoth-
esis and three sub-hypothesis was formulated and Table 2. Hypothesis Testing 2
tested: Predictor Model/Std β
H1: There is a significant relationship between Instagram communication
Instagram Communication Attributes
attributes and Generation Y’s sharing travel photo behavior.
- Participation .347***
H1a: There is a significant relationship between participation as Instagram
- Conversation .464***
communication attributes and Generation Y’s sharing travel photo be-
- Persuasion 0.62
havior.
R² .630
H1b: There is a significant relationship between conversation as Instagram Adjusted R² .627
communication attributes and Generation Y’s sharing travel photo be- R² Change .630
havior. F- Change 231.440***
H1c: There is a significant relationship between persuasion as Instagram Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
communication attributes and Generation Y’s sharing travel photo be-
havior. Beta coefficient value (β = .464, p < .001) for
H2: There is a significant relationship between Instagram communication conversation dimension indicates that it had the most
attributes and intention to share travel photo. influence on the intention to share travel photos fol-
H2a: There is a significant relationship between participation as Instagram lowed by the participation dimension (β = .347, p <
communication attributes and intention to share travel photo. .001). However, surprisingly persuasion dimension
H2b: There is a significant relationship between conversation as Instagram was not significant with the lowest beta coefficient
communication attributes and intention to share travel photo. value of (β = .062, p > .05). This indicates that per-
H2c: There is a significant relationship between persuasion as Instagram suasion is not one of the factors that influence the in-
communication attributes and intention to share travel photo. tention to share travel photos in Instagram among
the Generation Y. Thus, H2a and H2b were support-
ed while H2c was not supported. Since that, H2 was Instagram communication attributes were able to
partially supported. explain 37.6% of the variance in Generation Y’s
sharing travel photo behavior. These findings are
Table 3. Hypothesis Testing 3 similar with Bolton et al.’s (2013) study where it
Predictor Model/Std β was found that the social media users specifically
Intention to Share Travel Photo .422*** Generation Y contributes, shares, and searches and
R² .178 consume content by creating and combining infor-
Adjusted R² .176 mation from multiple sites thus makes them an ac-
R² Change .178 tive participant in social media.
F- Change 88.885***
The results from this study also documented that
Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001
participation dimension (β = .274***, p< .001) in-
Table 3 shows that intention to share travel photo fluenced Generation Y's sharing travel photo behav-
explained 17.8 percent (R2= .178, F-Change= ior where the relationship are the second highest and
88.885, p < .001) of the variance in Generation Y’s significant, after the persuasion dimension (β =
sharing travel photo behavior. Beta coefficient value .381***. p < .001). However the findings also re-
(β = .422, p < .001) for the intention to share travel vealed that even though they are active users in In-
photos indicates that it significantly influence the stagram, they do not always talk/share/post things
travel photo sharing behavior. Thus, the result of H3 that a lot of people talk/share/post about travel on
was supported. Instagram. This result is consistent with past litera-
ture where Bruns (2009) has stated that some users
Table 4. Mediation Effect of Generation Y primarily use Instagram to be in-
Without the effect of intention formed or entertained which makes them passive
to share travel photos and non-participating.
(Mediator) As for conversation variable in Instagram com-
Dimension Beta (β) Adj. R2 Sig. munication attributes, findings shows that there is a
Instagram Communication
.547*** .299 .000
high response towards that feels Instagram is a good
Attributes place for Generation Y to communicate with other
With the effect of intention to people and to engage in a meaningful conversation.
share travel photos A study conducted by Cabral (2011) support the
(Mediator) findings as Generation Y form the highest percent-
Instagram Communication
Attributes .712*** .309 .000 age of social media users due to the feel that they
need to be constantly in contact with their friends,
Independent Variable: BEHAVIOR and they see social media as a medium to strengthen
Note: *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 relationships. There is a possibility that they com-
municate and converse in Instagram about other
The beta coefficient value of the relation between things but not specifically about travel. This could
Instagram communication attributes and Generation be true as the findings are consistent with a research
Y’s sharing travel photo behavior with the effect of made by Bergh (2013) where the researcher found
intention to share has increase from β= .547*** to that 54% of Generation Y post in Instagram mainly
β= .712*** (Table 4). On the other hand, the R2 only about products, brands, and companies.
increased 1% after the effect of intention to share Meanwhile, the study revealed that most of the re-
travel photos as the mediator (R2= .299 to R2= .309) spondents are easily influenced by the persuasion of
(Table 4). This signifies that there is no mediation
travel photos posted by their family and friends on
effect of intention to share travel photos toward the
relationship between Instagram communication at- Instagram due to trust. This statement is supported
tributes and Generation Y’s sharing travel photo be- by Pendergast (2010) that states as for Generation Y,
havior. their friends’ and families’ opinions are highly val-
ued and have a great influence on their decision-
making, behavior and attitude. In addition, the find-
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ings also revealed that their decision to share travel
photo on Instagram has resulted from the persuasion
The main focus of this study was to examine the from their family and friends. The results are con-
relationship between Instagram communication at- sistent with a study made by Teng et al. (2014) that
tributes and Generation Y’s sharing travel photo be- conducted a study focusing on Facebook where the
havior while considering their intention to share as researcher found that half (52%) of it users are influ-
the mediating variable. From the research findings, enced by their friends’ photos that are posted online.
It is true as the result of this research revealed that
the persuasion dimension shows the most influence
on Generation Y’s sharing travel photo behavior.
Nevertheless, there are still limited studies on the
relationship between the Instagram communication
attributes and Generation Y's sharing behavior. Un-
derstanding Generation Y’s sharing behavior will
help the industry, the government, the tourism mar-
keters and managers understand this new emerging
market as they will be the potential tourists as well
as the future generation that will further develop the
tourism industry. Due to that, it is important to un-
derstand Generation Y behavior as the industry and
tourism marketers can fully utilize their resources in
achieving profit maximization with minimum cost
through develop new strategies for social media
communication as well as enhancing and promoting
destination through Instagram.
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